House Bill Targets Pimps, Johns

By |December 15, 2005

Law enforcement efforts to eradicate prostitution have traditionally focused on the prostitutes, but recent media coverage and growing public concern about human trafficking has led to a proposed law that would focus on the people who run the sex trade, the Washington Post reports. The House unanimously passed the law Wednesday, with the Senate expected to follow.It would grant state and local law enforcement agencies funds to investigate and prosecute brothel owners, pimps and customers.

“The johns use and abuse these young women,” said Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio). “And pimps — you can call them slaveholders, the masters out in the field.” The attitudes of Pryce, who introduced the legislation in the House, reflect a shift in how the government and the public respond to the sex industry. Traditionally, women have been blamed as the source of the problem. But Pryce calls prostitution “modern-day slavery” in which teenage girls are exploited and men fuel the crime.

The legislation marks a major change for Republicans, who long hve embraced a law-and-order rallying cry. Now many GOP senators argue for rehabilitating more offenders rather than long-time incarceration.

An Arizona doctor argues that the government should have learned from previous federal anti-drug strategies that blanket prohibition doesn’t work. He calls for scrapping attempts to curtail opioids and replacing it with “harm reduction” policies.

Expensive medications for inmates can lead to substandard care and delays in treatment, and that may have lasting—even deadly—consequences for incarcerated individuals, writes a prison health care advocate.

Murder rates in the nation’s 30 largest cities are projected to fall by nearly 6 percent this year according to the latest data, undercutting claims that the nation is experiencing a “crime wave,” says the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

School safety commission proposes ending a federal guideline telling schools not to punish minorities at higher rates. The panel largely sidestepped issues relating to guns, although it favors arming some school personnel.